Press Releases

GOODLATTE STATEMENT IN HONOR OF CONSTITUTION DAY

Washington, D.C.: Today Congressman Bob Goodlatte issued the following statement in honor of Constitution Day, which was first observed in 2005.

“On September 17, 1787, 39 delegates of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed their names to the United States Constitution. In doing so they laid the framework on which we have built our nation.

They agreed that their new country must above all else be dedicated to the preservation of individual liberty. Every person in America would be free to pursue happiness as they wished so long as they respected the right of others to do the same.

The Constitution was the means by which the delegates guaranteed this liberty. It did so by creating a limited government that would hold only those powers delegated to it by the people and that could be checked by its own component parts. It would be strong enough to guarantee our basic rights but not so strong as to undermine them.

This is a precarious balance of power, but one that has served as the bedrock and protector of our freedom for 225 years. And so as we mark the anniversary of the signing of our Constitution, all Americans should pause to reflect on the fundamental principles upon which our country was founded and how these principles have made us the freest and most powerful nation in the history of the world.”

Congressman Goodlatte is a senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over Constitutional amendments and other issues pertaining to the U.S. Constitution.

Additionally, he led the historic reading of the U.S. Constitution on the House floor at the start of the 112th Congress.